Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 13 § 249, U.S. Code — More commonly known as “Hate crime acts” states (in part):
(a) In General — Offenses involving actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin. — “Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person… shall be imprisoned not more than 10 years, fined in accordance with this title, or both.”
State law in Ohio “broadly defines hate crimes as criminal acts motivated by prejudice or intolerance and directed toward a member of a gender, racial, religious or social group. Ohio law does not, however, consider hate crimes as stand-alone offenses. Rather, they are considered as factors in determining penalties or sentences for other crimes.”
What the above laws mean (in spite of the ignorance of commenters who post often inane, sometimes smarmy, and occasionally racist remarks on Cleveland.com — they must be starving for clicks) is that Angela Kocinski-Brown, 42, could be in big trouble. The Motel 6 manager is accused of shoving, slapping and yelling slurs at four guests after they arrived from Ferguson, Missouri, at the Middleburg Heights business that employs her.
According to police reports, the altercation began around 3 a.m. on Saturday, when Charles Wade, 32, arrived at the motel with a group of protestors from Ferguson that were scheduled to take part in demonstrations over the killing of Tamir Rice at various locations in Cleveland later in the day. Wade, who is originally from Bowie, Maryland, had booked several rooms for the group through the website hotels.com.
However, after arriving he discovered the motel had reservations for only one room, at which point Wade and several others became upset with the desk clerk, who called two managers, one of them Kocinski-Brown, who was not working at the time, and allegedly was drunk.
Evidently the confrontation escalated and Kocinski-Brown is accused of shoving and slapping four of the group while calling them racial slurs. Can anyone say the “N” word? It’s a pretty good bet she didn’t like the group’s politics, but how she allegedly overreacted probably will prove to be one of the worst decisions she’s ever made in her life, drunk or sober.
Kocinski-Brown could have probably gotten away with misdemeanor charges for the shoving and slapping; and she probably could have gotten away without being charged at all for directing racial slurs toward members of the group (after all, it’s still a free country and people still say anything, except yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater); but to physically attack someone, while at the same time calling them names constitutes a hate crime under both state and federal laws, and, given the climate of the times, she’s more than likely to be prosecuted for a felony.
As the situation now stands, Kocinski-Brown (who was arrested and released on bail) is scheduled for arraignment on Jan. 7 in Berea Municipal Court on four counts of misdemeanor assault. I’ll be watching this case closely to see if additional charges are brought forth. I wonder if the owners of the Motel 6 know how to say “Settlement”?
[Photo: independentman (Flickr)]
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.